Weather stripping



Oct. 7, 1947. ABRAMS WEATHER STRIPPING Filed 001;. 21, 1943 Patented.Oct. '7, 1947 j Yumrso srA'res PATENT OFFICE George Abrams, GreatNeck,N. Y.

Application October 21, 1943, Serial No. 507,159

. 1" Doors, each consisting of a single monolithic panel of temperedglass, are now found in many buildings. Such doors are highly ornamentaland are frequentlyemployed at the outer entrances to buildings, such asapartment houses, hotels,

stores and the like. The ornamental quality of such doors resideslargely in th fact that they do not have any frames or moldings. Thequality of the tempered glass is such that it is not feasible to haveany work done on such doors, such as attaching molding or the like byscrews or bolts, after such doors are installed. Moreover, the customarymolding that may be attached to such doors, whether for weatherstripping or for any other purpose will mar its ornamental quality. Thusweather stripping such doors presents a peculiar problem which has nothitherto been solved.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide suchdoors, whether single acting or double acting, with moldings serving asastragals or weather strips, which will not mar the ornamentalappearance of the door and which may be installed by an inexpert personwithout risking injury to the door.

The present invention, therefore, provides such molding or weatherstrips made of an infrangible and transparent material. The materialsfound particularly suitable for this purpose are any of the well-knownresinous or plastic materials, such as vinyl resins or others, which maybe extruded to any desired shape and which produce transparent productsof any desired shape.

The present invention also provides such weather strips or weather stripcarriers in such form that they may be readily installed on the verticaledge of the door without the use of any screws or bolts or any otherattaching means and may be just as readily removed in the spring andstored for installation in the fall.

Single acting and double acting doors present ciifierent problems. It isthe object of the present invention to provide removable astragals, orweather strips for single acting doors of the type described, which aremade entirely of such transparent plastic material, These provide astrip of such plastic across each of the vertical gaps of the door, thestrip being rigid and resilient, so that it yields sufllciently to theweight of the door, or to the springs or other devices employed tomaintain the door in the normal closed Dosition, substantially to sealthe gap against the passage of air currents.

For double acting doors the present invention also provides a moldingmade of transparent 1 Claim. (CI. 20-69) plastic for ready mounting onthe vertical edges of the door, and'this molding is constructed to carrya strip of flexible and resilient material to close the gap at suchedge. The sealing strip is in this case made of any suitable flexiblematerial, such as any suitable fabric, as textile, or a rubberizedfabric or a strip of rubber.

In the case of both the single acting and double acting monolithictempered glass doors the molding comprises a channel shaped strip ofplastic whose side walls are rigid and are sumciently resilient so thatwhen forced over the edge of the door it will grip the door and remainin position. For the single acting door the sealing strip is integralwith the channel and of the same material. For the double acting door,the channel is provided on the outer face of one wall with a smallerchannel and a strip of suitable flexible material is inserted andretained in the smaller channel.

While the structures employed with the monolithic tempered glass doorsmay also be employed with wood or bronze doors, it is sometimesdesirable to reduce the cost of the weather stripping for such door. Insuch installations, therefore, the present invention provides astructure which may be attached to one face of the door by screws or thelike and includes the small channel which carries the sealing strip offlexible material.

In some installations the monolithic panels are accurately and closelyspaced. In such cases the sealing strip may be unnecessary and theremovable channel of plastic, which is rigid and resilient and has nosealing strip, is mounted on the 'edge of the door. The base of thechannel then substantially fills the gap between the doors.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent to persons skilled in the art.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 illustrates the present invention as applied to single actingmonolithic glass doors;

Fig. 2 shows the weather stripping employed in the single acting doorshown in Fig. 1:

Fig. 3 illustrates the present invention as applied to double actingmonolithic glass doors;

Fig. 4 shows the weather stripping employed in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of a portion of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 shows a modified form of weather strip- D Figs. '7 and 8 show thepresent invention as applied to wood and bronze doors.

Fig. 2 of the drawings shows in perspective a full size reproduction ofthe weather strip, gen- 3 erally indicated by reference character It inFig. 1.- This weather stripping is made of any suitable synthetic resinsuch as vinyl resin or other suitable thermoplastic material. Suchmaterials are particularly adaptable for the production of thisstructure by extrusion, and the product obtained is preferablytransparent, although if desired, it may be produced in any suitablecolor.

It will be observed that the thickness of the walls is approximatelyone-sixteenth of an inch. These walls are nevertheless rigid and arealso resilient to the degree necessary as will be understood from thefollowing description. The form shown in Fig. 2 is particularlyapplicable to single acting double doom as shown in Fig. 1, whichcomprises the open-faced channel ii having a base wall I2 and side wallsl3 and i4." One of the sidewalls, and as shown in the drawings the sidewall I4, is provided with an outwardly extending portion l5 whichprojects rearwardly and away from the base 12. The two side walls 13 andll incline toward each other so that the distance between the free edgesof the side walls is substantially smaller than the width of the basewall l2. The protruding extension 15 is preferably slightly curvedtoward the base 12 as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

As a result of the rigidity and resilience of the side walls l3 and 14,a suitable length of the weather strip shown in Fig. 2 can be readilyforced over an edge of the monolithic 'glass door l8 or I1.

The distance between the inner faces of the side walls l3 and I4 wherethey join the base wall 12 is substantially equal to the thickness ofthe glass doors l5 and 11. When the channel II is forced onto the edgeof the door the walls 13 and I are slightly flexed at their bases andbecause of the rigidity and the resilience of these walls, they 'flrmlygrip the door and remain firmly thereon without any other attachingmeans. The slight curvature of the flange or extension 15 serves toassure engagement of this extension with the adjacent face of thecooperating door so as to provide an eflfective seal of the air gapbetween the doors when they are closed. If the doors are in perfectalinement with each other, the resilience of the strip [5 permits it tobe flattened as shown in Fig. 1, so that there is contact between thedoor I 1 and the strip l5 over a substantial portion of its inner face.If however as sometimes happens, the alinement is not accurate, theinward curvature of the strip l5 will always provide contact between atleast the free edge of the extension 15 and the monolithic panel,thereby providing aneffective seal of the air gap between the doors.

It will be observed that for the purpose of providing an effective sealagainst the air gap between the facing edges of the doors, only one such.strip mounted on the edge of one door is slimcient. For thepurpose ofproviding a seal of the air gap between the hinged edge of each door andthe adjacent jambQsuitable lengths of the strip shown in Fig. 2 aremounted on the edges of these doors as shown at 18 and 19.

The weather strips shown in Fig. 2 are produced' by extrusion of anysuitable length to the desired dimensions for cooperation with glassdoors of known thickness. When an installation is to be made the stripsare merely cut in length to the height of the door and are installed asshown in Fig. l and described hereinabove. The walls of the strip beingonly about one-sixteenth of an inch thick and being preferably colorlessand transparent, they do not-in any way mar the appearance 01 the doorand the longitudinal flanges or extensions I 5 serve to provide aneffective seal of the air gaps. When the winter is over the strips, ifdesired, may be readil removed and I stored for re-installation thefollowing season.

Fig. 4 shows a perspective full size view of the present'invention asapplied to a double swinging door. The channel 20 is designed andconstructed in the same manner as the channel ll shown in Fig. 2. Theside walls incline toward each other so that the rigidity and resilienceof these side walls permits that the same be mounted on the doubleacting doors 2! and 22 as shownin Fig. 3. In this form of the inventionthe integral flange or extension is eliminated and theextruded channelof thermoplastic material is provided on one side wall with a narrowchannel 23. This channel is formed by the wall 24 which is integral withthe side wall 25 of the channel 20, being molded therewith by theextrusion process and being attached thereto by the connecting base 26.The channel 23 receives a strip 21 of any suitable flexible materialsuch as a textile fabric, or a strip of rubber, or the like. The strip21 extends beyond the channel 23 and serves as a closure for the air gapwhen this structure is installed as shown in Fig. 3. The channel 23 neednot be much more than one-sixteenth of an inch in width and the depthextends only a portion of the width of'the side wall 25 and mayapproximate in depth only one-half of the width of the side wall 25. Theinner faces of the auxiliary channel 23, while approximately parallel toeach other, are so directed that the free edge of the flexible strip 21is directed inwardly toward the base of the channel 20. The strip 21 mayif desired be held in position by means of rivets or cut nails 28.

It will now be understood that when the weather strip shown in Fig. 4 ismounted on a pair of double acting doors as shown in Fig. 3 the flexiblestrips 21 serve to seal the air gaps in the door. Normally the flexiblestrips 21 would occupy the positions shown in full lines in Fig. 3. Attimes however the doors may beoperated in such a way as to leave theflexible strip 21 in its flexed position as illustrated by dotted lines'29 in Fig. 3. In this position it also serves to seal the air gap. gExcept for the flexible strip 21 and the rivets or cut nails 23, the;structure shown in Fig. 4 is manufactured as an integral unit byextrusion.

The strip 21 is thereafter'inserted in the auxiliary channel 23 and heldin position by means of the 56 nails or rivets 28. If desired thestructure shown v in Fig. 4 may also be employed on single acting doorsshown in Fig. 1, but it is preferred to provide such doors with theweather strip shown in Fig. 2. to Fig. 6 shows a channel strip of'transparent thermoplastic resin or the like which is not provided withany lip or extension or any projecting strip. As in the other channelstrips the side walls are inclined toward each other and a suitablelength of this channel strip maybe mounted on the edge of any glassdoor. This form may serve as an effective sealing of some air gaps wherethe doors are so mounted that the-.adiacent edges are accurately andclosely spaced.

The mere thickness of the base of this/channel may then serve to providea satisfactory closure for the gap without interfering with theoperation of the'door.

The structures thus far described are particu larly designed formonolithic glass doors, but it is obvious that they may also be employedon other types of doors such as wood or bronze. For use with wood orbronze doors the structure shown in Fig. 4 is modified by eliminatingthe main channel 20, thereby obtaining the structure shown in Fig. '1which includes the strip 3| channeled along one edge thereof to receivethe flexible strip 32. The channel 33 which is formed by the walls 34and 35 is so directed that the flexible strip 32 extends angularly withrelation to the door 36 and to the strip 3|. The rear or single wallportion of the strip 3| is attached to the door 36 by means of screws 31or the like. The flexible strip 32 is held within the channel 33 bymeans of rivets or cut nails 38.

Fig. 8 shows substantially the structure oi Fig. '7 except that it isprovided with a lip 40 which extends over the edge of the door and isemployed for mounting the entire strip by means of screws or the likeII. The forms shown in Figs. 7 and 8 are made of the same thermoplasticresinous material or the like and are extruded in the form shown, theflexible strips being subsequently in- J serted in the channels 33 andsecured therein.

Having thus described the several embodiments of my invention, it willbe understood that my invention is not limited thereto and thatmodifications thereof falling within the scope of the appended claimwill become apparent to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

Weather stripping comprising an extruded elongated channel of plasticmaterial, said channel having base and side walls of high resilience andrigidity, the side walls being inclined toward each other, whereby thechannel may be mounted GEORGE ABRAMS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,259,117 McCormick Mar. 11-2,1918 1,495,727 Cookingham May 2'7, 1924 2,095,669 Funkel Oct. 12. 19371,545,694 Potter July 14, 1925 2,294,792 Miller Sept. 1, 1942 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 35,722 France Nov. 8, 1929 638,737 FranceFeb. 2'7, 1928 43,938 Norway Apr. 19, 1927 581,038 Germany July 20, 1933821,238 France -1 1937 231,739 Great Britain Apr. 9, 1925 OTHERREFERENCES "Bakelite Review," January, 1943, issue, page 5.

